The 21st century presents a profound paradox for scientific research. On the one hand, we’ve been witness to exponential growth in understanding across scholarly disciplines coupled with technological advances allowing for nearly ubiquitous access to data, information, and knowledge. On the other hand, the cognitive and collaborative capacity of humans has not advanced at nearly the same pace. In short, there is a problematic asymmetry between the rapid advances in science and technology and the relatively glacial pace of evolution in human cognition.

In this talk, I provide a path forward for addressing this paradox. I outline how the concept of transhumanism, made possible by developments in the cognitive sciences, can be adapted to augment collaborative cognition and help us solve some of the most challenging societal problems in the coming decades. I describe how advances in cognitive engineering and computer science, coupled with technology developments in augmented cognition and brain-computer interface, provide the potential for significant gains in cognition.